PANE CON SEMI DI AMARANTO, MIGLIO E FIOCCHI D’ORZO

bread with millet seeds, amaranth and barley flakes

Leggi In Italiano

I have often asked myself, in this period, if it was useful or at least pleasant to report on these blank pages, what has happened in these months and what will still happen. “Who knows”, I thought, if these pages, which for me are like a diary on which moments of life, stories that mix with recipes and real life stories, “if there will be room for such a strange moment, for the pain, for fear, for fragility “.

I always ask myself questions about my job, about my way of approaching all of you who follow me assiduously. I do it because my work is based on mutual trust, which I hope not to betray. When it comes to me, it also speaks to you all. It is an indissoluble bond, it is what allows me to carry on an activity that is sometimes difficult, but that always surprises me for all that it gives.

When I ask myself a question, I usually do it to improve the prospects that underlie our communication. I ask myself a question, I await an answer.

This answer, almost always, comes in reverse. It is never a written answer, it is never a clear answer. It is something that creeps between me and what happens to me. Signals, which indicate whether the path I am following is the right one, or there is a need to change course.

When I wondered if to tell about this moment that we are all living, I wondered if doing it would bring sadness or awareness. If he would have lightened his spirits, or would have made them sad.

The trust I place in all of you, has made me look in the direction of comfort.

Telling something sad, something that happens to us, is not a way to sadden others, but a way to look for those immense opportunities that I always talk to you about. And so it was also this time.

This quarantine, for me and Claudio, was a moment and it is still now, a moment to put a boost to our creativity. A way to create ways different from the ones that we thought were already laid out before us.

Two months ago we had definite plans, we believed we knew what we would accept and what we would discard. On a working level, but also on a personal level.

Then something happened that upset the certainties, reducing them to small pieces.

There was a time when we all had to look inside and ask ourselves if we were ready to look for that something more that we always asked of our person, but that perhaps we never had the strength to accomplish.

We have focused on what we have cultivated in these years, on the passions and on what always empties our mind when it is full of thoughts: the baking.

Difficult times, usually, we try to face them with total commitment in something very difficult: we have discovered that it is good for us, it is our way to embrace anxiety and lead it towards productivity trades.

This does not mean that it should be a rule for everyone: there are those who stop, there are those who cannot do it, there are those who invent, those who tell, those who eat, those who embrace each other. There are also those who need time to fuel. Everything is lawful at a similar time, everything is justified and fully acceptable.

The other day, during an online workshop, kneading with Elettra (a girl who lives in Cape Town, is a sailor and travels the world on a sailing boat) we discussed what makes others feel good and how it can benefit to be well with themselves and then spreading positivity also in relationships with those around us. I said “you can also lick a door. Does it make you feel good? Do it !!!”

Where respect for others exists, everything is allowed. Where there is respect for “the vegetable garden of others”, everything can only do well.

And then, I ask you this: “be lenient with yourself, indulge your fears, take care of them. Cultivate what heals your soul, because it will allow you to relate to others without double ends. What a marvel, right?”

Then, clemency is essential when you approach such this type of bread.

Difficult to manage flours, additions and additions that, if not made at the right time and with the right patience, can ruin the dough and not give you the right consistency.

So arm yourself with patience and want to experiment.

I used type 2 flour and wholemeal rye flour. Both rich in bran, therefore quite “thirsty” for water: for this reason I slightly raised the hydration of the dough.

Organoleptic characteristics *

organoleptic

adjective
Related to the properties of a substance that can be perceived and assessed by the sense organs, such as smell, taste, color.

This bread is the apotheosis of what I consider a bread rich in “substance”: hints of barley and toasted hazelnuts (even if there are no hazelnuts inside), make it a highly aromatic bread. In terms of consistency, the crunchiness of the browned and “hot” flavor and the softness of the crumb alternate. Inside the crumb you will find the crunchiness given by the barley flakes, the seeds of millet and amaranth.
It is an excellent bread to be enjoyed hot as soon as it is ready, or as a toast (go further accentuate the scent of barley), accompanied with good butter, excellent to pair with sweet or savory.

Dough features:

hydration 75% (not considering the percentage of water contained in the licoli)

Rising characteristic:

12-hour overnight in the fridge

Ingredients FOR SOURDOUGH REFRESHMENT:

50 g liquid sourdough starter + 50 g water + 50 g TYPE 2 flour *

* I used a type 2 flour for the last refreshment before using the licoli to make it work better in contact with a type 2 flour making the environment less difficult. You can also omit this step and conversion but with particularly articulated loaves, I always recommend to have extra care.

MIX INGREDIENTS:

• 400 g type 2 flour
• 100 g of wholemeal rye flour
• 50 g total of seeds including amaranth seeds, millet and barley flakes
• 75 g mature and active liquid mother yeast (licoli) *
• 375 g of water
• 12 g of salt
• 20 g barley malt *

* for anyone who has just started their licoli, I recommend using 90 g, because it will certainly be weaker than mine, which in this period is slightly exuberant!

* The use is optional. Barley malt is a sweetener of natural origin that is obtained by maceration and subsequent germination of the homonymous cereal. Barley is a cereal belonging to the Graminacee family, from its processing a very sugary product is obtained, which can also be used to sweeten drinks and sweets. Malt can also be obtained from other cereals such as corn, wheat or rice.

Preparation for step

Refreshment of yeast

Mix all the ingredients listed in the liquid yeast composition above in a jar and keep a warm place for 3 to 4 hours at 25-26 ° C. This will depend on the strength of your yeast and how you usually “look after” it. The yeast will have to double in about 3 hours if it is strong. It could happen that you double in less time: however, wait at least 3 hours.

Autolysis

For autolysis, we combined 3/4 of the water and flour.

Using your hands or a planetary mixer, mix the ingredients until there are no dry flour residues left. Cover and keep somewhere at room temperature until the time to start the dough: estimated time an hour.

Dough

He begins to knead everything, adding the water that was left and the licoli, until the dough is almost totally stringed. Add the barley malt and work 2 minutes. Add the salt. The salt will have to be inserted when we begin to see that our dough “pulls”, that is, it starts to string, but it is not completely ready. Stir everything until it comes together in a homogeneous mass, but still full of wrinkles. Work for 2-3 minutes. When it is well strung, slowly and repeatedly, add the mixed seeds and barley flakes. Work 2 more minutes or until fully incorporated. Then, turn the bowl upside down on the work surface and proceed with a type of dough called “slap and fold”. Work it like this until it has a smooth and homogeneous appearance and until it detaches completely from the surface. Based on how you will feel the dough, you will decide whether to knead it again or not. Alternatively, the first few times, you can keep the dough in the bowl and do a series of stretches and folds towards the center, with one hand while you rotate the bowl. Do this for about 7 minutes (it all depends on the strength with which you work the dough, so this is subjective. It is important, for this reason, to be able to “feel” the stringing of the dough). At the end of this process, your dough should be more toned.

Rest

Let the dough rest in a bowl for half an hour. Take the dough again and start with the spot-welding and folds phase.

 

Proceed with the spot-welding and every 45 minutes give a round of stretch & fold folds to your dough. After the last fold, let the dough rest for half an hour. After half an hour, make a light preform and after half an hour, continue with the actual forming.

Forming + Leavening and aging in the fridge overnight 12 hours

Proceed with the molding by giving tension to the dough which otherwise will lose most of its tension during the night. We put in the leavening basket and put in the fridge for 12 hours.

If you use different flours, be careful: according to the flours you will use, the maturation time in the fridge must change.

For those who have never done a molding or want to understand how to do I leave you this video that can clarify your ideas: video forming

Bake (I cooked in a pot, then pre-heat the pot at least 40 minutes before)
The next day, preheat the oven to 250 ° C for 1 hour.

Pour the dough on parchment paper and using a straight cut razor blade, give a clean cut to the bread.

Bake for 60 minutes: the first 30 minutes with a lid at 250 degrees, the remaining time without a lid at 200 degrees.